Choe Je-u
| Choe Je-u | |
| Hangul | 최제우 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 崔濟愚 |
| Revised Romanization | Choe Je-u |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ch'oe Che-u |
| Pen name | |
| Hangul | 수운 |
| Hanja | 水雲 |
| Revised Romanization | Su-un |
| McCune–Reischauer | Su-un |
Choe Je-u, who used the pen name Su-un (18 December 1824 – 15 April 1864), was the founder of Donghak, a Korean religious movement against foreign invasions and critical of Joseon Dynasty government policies of the time. His teachings led to peasant revolts in Korea which were contemporary with the Taiping Rebellion in China, and he was martyred by order of the Daewongun, only weeks before the death of Hong Xiuquan.
His birth-name was Choe Je-seon ("save and proclaim"). During his childhood, he was also called Bok-sul ("blissfully happy"). He took the name Je-u ("saviour of the ignorant") in 1859. His disciples called him Su-un ("water cloud"), which was the name he used for his writings, and also called him Daesinsa, the great teacher.
Choe Je-seon was born into an aristocratic family on 18 December 1824 (the 28th day of the 10th month) at Kajong-ni, a village near Gyeongju, the ex-capital of Silla and now a city in the south-eastern province of Gyeongsang.
His father Choe Ok was a scholar who had failed to obtain a post in the government, his clan not being in favour with those then in power. He had reached the age of sixty and had been married and widowed twice without gaining a son. He adopted a nephew in order to preserve his own line before marrying a widow named Han. Choe Je-seon was the result of this final union, but he was considered illegitimate in the Neo-Confucian system: the children of a widow who had remarried occupied a low position in the social hierarchy and could not, for example, take the examinations necessary to become a bureaucrat. Despite this he received a good education.
His mother died when he was five years old, and his father when he was sixteen. He married a woman named Park in 1836. She came from Miryang (and originally from Ulsan). He led an itinerant life before finally settling with his family in Ulsan in 1854. In 1856, he began a 49-day retreat in the Buddhist monastery of Naewon-sa, but had to leave on the 47th day to attend the funeral of his uncle. The next year he managed to complete the 49 days at Cheok-myeol Caves, but did not find the experience spiritually fulfilling.
In 1858 he lost his house and all effects in bankruptcy, and he returned with his family to the paternal household in 1859. He spent his time in prayer and meditation and wrote the poem Ipchun ("Spring Equinox"). According to his own account, he was greatly concerned by the public disorder in Korea, the encroachments of Christianity, and the domination of East Asia by Western powers, which seemed to indicate that divine favour had passed into the hands of foreigners:
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